Hair assembly adaptable for use on male or female cadavers



April 11, 1967 R. E. SULLIVAN HAIR ASSEMBLY ADAPTABLE FOR USE ON MALE ORFEMALE CADAVERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 15, 1964 INVENTOR. ROBERT E.SULLIVAN ATTORNEYS April 11, 1967 HAIR ASSEMBLY R. E. SULLIVAN 3,313,310

ADAPTABLE FOR USE ON MALE OR FEMALE CADAVERS Filed June 15, 1964 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. ROBERT E. SULLIVAN ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent 3,313,316 HAIR ASSEMBLY ADAPTABLE FOR USE ON 0R FEMALE CADAVERSRobert E. Sullivan, .lacksonville, Fla, assignor to Sull Hans HairPieces, Inc, a corporation of Florida Filed June 15, 1%4, Ser. No.374,921 Elairns. (Cl. 13253) This invention relates to hair assembliesand more particularly concerns a hair assembly for use on a human body,especially adaptable for a cadaver.

A general object of the present invention is to provide a hair assemblyfor a human body.

A particular object is the provision of a hair assembly which isuniversally adaptable for use on a dead person, man, woman or child.

Many cadavers handled by morticians have no hair due to the fact thatthe persons scalp had been sheared or shaved for a scalp operationinvolving tumors and the like. In the past crepe or wool hair wasapplied by the mortician to the cadavers in attempting to simulate thenatural hair of the cadaver. Since the use of crepe or wool hair wasobviously unnatural in appearance, such practice has been abandoned. Ifthe sheared hair is saved and sent to the mortician with the cadaver,the highly skilled mortician or a specialist in the field of restorativeart may be able to restore the sheared hair to the cadaver. Suchrestoration is highly complicated and requires many hours of labor andis xcessively expensive. The morticians in large cities may purchaseready-made wigs which are usually made of synthetic material and are notparticularly satisfactory or natural when applied to the cadaver. Someready-made wigs are made of human hair, but are either quitet costly orthey are improperly made resulting in an unnatural headpiece. A custommade wig of human hair would not be practical for use by a morticianbecause delivery thereof normally requires from four to six weeks andthe cost thereof is great. Specific objects of this invention are toprovide a hair assembly for use on a cadaver which is natural inappearance, easy to apply to the cadaver, inexpensive to construct andpurchase, and adaptable to the particular age and sex of the cadaver.

The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of thisinvention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. Theinvention itself, however, both as to its organization and method ofoperation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, maybest be understood by reference to the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a partial perspective view of a female cadaver lying in acasket wearing the hair assembly in accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 depicting the hair assembly ofthis invention applied to a male cadaver;

FIGURE 3 is a bottom plan view of the hair assembly in accordance withthe invention; and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 44 ofFIGURE 3.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, FIG- URE 1 depicts afemale cadaver disposed in a casket 11 with her head 12 lying on apillow 13. Hair assembly 14, in accord with this invention, is properlypositioned 3,3l3,3lfi Patented Apr. 11, 1967 and aflixed, as by doublefaced tape or spirit gum, to head 12 of female cadaver 10. Since theback of the head 12 rests on pillow i3 and is exposed at the crown,sides and forehead, the hair assembly 14 is designed to approximatelycover the crown, sides and forehead and not the back of the head inorder that the amount of hair be minimized.

The hair assembly 15 is positioned on the male cadaver 16 and may havebeen identical with hair assembly 14 applied to the female cadaver 10before the applications of hair assemblies 14 and 15 to the respectivecadavers 1i and 16.

Before specifically describing the hair assembly in accord with thisinvention as depicted in FIGURES 3 and 4, a general consideration of therequirements and particular problems of which a mortician is facedtogether with the economics and appearance of the hair assembly will beconsidered. Wigs are now made for specific purposes such as a manstoupee or a womans hair piece, some wigs being for the entire head whileothers are patches or patch type for blending with existing hair on theperson. The expensive wigs are hand stitched and knotted or ventilatedin which the hair is hand sewed into a base of netting material. Thehand stitched wigs have a natural front hairline on the forehead and maybe combed back from the forehaid in the same manner as the natural hair.The less expensive wigs are machine stitched by attaching the individualhairs to a ribbon by fine thread or stitching the hair together byzig-Zag stitches on a sewing machine and thereafter attaching suchribbon by machine to a base of netting material or the like. Theribbons, strings, or rows of hair are commonly known as wefts. In theseless expensive hair wigs the hair must be combed forward along theforehead in order that the stitching and ribbons be covered and anatural and realistic appearance be provided along the front hairline.

In order that a hair assembly be acceptable to the mortician and hisclientele it was determined that certain requirements must be met forthe hair assembly, such requirements being that the hair assembly mustlook natural, particularly along the front hairline; the hair assemblymust be readily applied to a cadaver; the hair assembly shouldpreferably be adaptable to cadavers of all ages, sexes and sizes ofheads; and the hair assembly must be inexpensive in construction andpurchase in order that a dead person needing a hair assembly be providedwith such hair assembly to enable the mortician to properly handle andprepare the dead person for viewing. Previously, the cost factor and/orthe unnaturalness of wigs and the like have prevented many dead personshaving no hair from being viewed. A hair assembly must be made of humanhair in order that the hair assembly will look natural. While certainsynthetic materials may be acceptable, none have thus far provensatisfactory. Furthermore, the human hair may be readily arranged,parted, waved, curled, dyed and/ or rinsed, and the synthetic materialsdo not permit the mortician or a hair dresser to readily perform thenecessary functions on a synthetic hair assembly.

A minimum amount of human hair is preferably used in the construction ofthe hair assembly since the cost of human hair is expensive.Furthermore, the labor iivolved in hand stitching hair assemblies isquite costly,

while the machine stitched hair assemblies are not acceptable becausethey are not capable of being combed back off the forehead and/ orforward into bangs in order that the mortician and/or hair dressersimulates the natural hair style of the deceased person. The universaladaptation of the hair assembly of the present invention to man, woman,boy or girl, as the case may be, permitted the stocking of a few basicshades of hair assemblies by a mortician, whereby the mortician wouldhave such hair assembly in his immediate possession and could promptlybegin preparation of the cadaver.

The hair assembly of this invention could be made of human hair ofvarious shades of colors but only the five basic shades of hair: black,brown, red, blond and gray, in five hair assemblies need be stocked bythe mortician in view of the fact that with the various lighting andshading techniques present in most mortuaries, any color of hair may besimulated by exposing one of the five basic shades to particulararrangements of colored lights, as is commonly employed.

Since the hair assembly in accord with this invention is to beuniversally adaptable for males and females, the hair assemblies will beprovided with pre-curled and set style for women which may be changed byproperly combing and brushing to other hair styles for women, and/or thehair assembly may be dampened or washed, combed and cut to a mans style.Since the hair assembly is in a set style for women in which a portionof the hair covers the womans ears, such portion of the hair may be cutalong the normal side hairline around the ears of a man, and any excesshair on the top of the head and/or back of the head may be eliminated ortucked beneath the back of the head. The same precedure is followed whenthe hair assembly is used for a small deceased boy. When the hairassembly is to be used for a girl, the hair may be cut and set to anyparticular style to simulate the usual hair style of the girl.

It is readily apparent that the hair assembly to be specificallydescribed in connection with FIGURES 3 and 4 substantially satisfies themajor requirements for a hair assembly for cadavers by providing:

1) A universally adaptable hair assembly usable on persons of variousages, sexes and sizes of heads;

(2) A hair assembly of human hair having a natural and realisticappearance especially along the front hairline; and

(3) A hair assembly inexpensive in construction and purchase and easilyapplicable to the head of a cadaver.

The hair assembly, in accordance with the invention, is generallyindicated at 20 in FIGURES 3 and 4, and comprises a foundation or basemember 21 of netting material or fabric cut in the desired shape andcontour depicted. Base member 21 is seen to include a generallyarcuately shaped rearward edge portion 22 extending between the endportions 23 and 24, and an elongated forward edge portion 26 spanningbetween end portions 23 and 24. The foundation forward edge portion 26includes a curved central portion 25 generally medial of end portions 23and 24, and a pair of rearwardly extending indented portions 27 and 28respectively located between the central portion 25 and respective endportions 23 and 24. The dimensions of the foundation 21 for auniversally adaptable hair assembly 2! has been determined to be ten andone-half inches from end to end; three inches from the forward edgeportion 26 to the rearward edge portion 22 generally midway between itsends; and two and one-half inches from the forward edge portion 26 tothe rearward edge portion 22 generally vertically from the valleys 29and 30 of the indented portions 27 and 28.

The foundation or base member 21 is fabricated from any appropriatenatural fabric netting material, such as cotton, or synthetic fabricnetting material, such as nylon, or combinations, thereof. A closelywoven fabric ribbon or marginal binding 31 is machine stitched aroundthe perimeter edge 32 of base member 21 to prevent fraying thereof andprovide a member into which hair may be attached as described more fullyhereinafter in connection with FIGURE 4.

A plurality of spaced rows 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 33 and 39 of machinestitched strands of hair are attached to foundation 21 as by machinestitching thereto. These rows of hair will hereinafter be referred to aswefts, a single weft usually having about 200 hairs per inch and adouble weft having about 450 hairs per inch. The wefts 33, 34, 35, 36,37, 38 and 39 are preferably double, it being understood that twice thenumber of single wefts may be employed on the foundation to providesufficient fullness and to properly cover the foundation. The wefts 33to 39 generally extend longitudinally of foundation 21, wefts 33, 34 and35 extending between the end portions 23 and 24 to provide sufficienthair adjacent the temples of the wearer of the hair assembly 20. Weft 35is seen to terminate short of end portions 23 and 24 while wefts 37, 38and 39 also terminate short of end portions 23 and 24. It is importantthat weft 33 be closely spaced to the forward edge portion 26 while theremaining wefts 34 to 39 are spaced generally rearwardly to provideproper fullness and cover for foundation 21. The strands of hair in eachweft 33 to 38 extends over the next rearwardly spaced row and blendswith the strands of hair therein to conceal foundation 21.

A plurality of rows 4% and 41 of strands of hair are hand stitched orventilated into the lower portion 42 of marginal binding 31 along theforward hairline edge portion 26, the strands of hair extendinggenerally downwardly below the lower surface 43 of foundation 21 whichmay then be arranged in an upward fashion generally surrounding marginalbinding 31, as shown, for blending in with the strands of hair in themachine stitched rows 33 to 39 and the strands of hair in the upper handstitched rows 44 and 45. The strands of hair in rows 40 and 41 adjacentthe central portion 25 may be combed downwardly and cut for bangs or thelike.

A plurality of rows 44 and 45 of hand stitched or ventilated strands ofhair are attached to the upper portion 46 of marginal binding 31 alongthe forward hairline edge portion 26, the strands of hair extendinggenerally upwardly above the upper surface 47 of foundation 21. Thestrands of hair in rows 44 and 45 may be combed upwardly and rearwardly,as shown, for blending in with the strands of hair in the machinestitched rows 33 to 39. When bangs are desired, strands of hair fromrows 44 and 45 adjacent the central portion 25 of foundation 21 arecombed downwardly to cover the outer edge portion 48 of marginal binding31 between its upper and lower portions 42 and 46. Even when the hairassembly 20 is styled for bangs or the like, some of the strands of hairfrom rows 44 to 45 adjacent central portion 25 preferably extendingrearwardly to overlie and blend in with the strands of hair in themachine stitched rows of hair 33 to 39, and especially rows 33 and 34which are disposed closely adjacent the hand stitched rows 44 and 45 toproperly conceal foundation 21.

The hand stitched or ventilated rows 40, 41, 44 and 45 containapproximately 350 stitches with about four or five hairs per stitchwhich varies due to the fact that each technician performing the handstitching operation usually picks up about four strands of hair with theventilating needle commonly employed during the construction of handstitched hair pieces.

By viewing FIGURE 3, it is seen that the strands of hair, depicted at5-0 and 51, adjacent the end portions 23 and 24 extend rearwardly of therearward edge portion 22 a sufiicient distance so that the hair at thesides of the head of the cadaver may be properly arranged to effectivelycover the sides of the head. When a man or boys style is desired, thehair is simply dampened with water or hair tonic, combed fiat or wavy,depending on the natural hair of the cadaver, and the excess hair isclipped to provide a proper side hairline around the cadavers ears. Thestrands of hair, generally medial of the foundation 21 and depicted at52, extend rearwardly of the rear- Ward edge portion 22 and terminateforwardly of the strands of hair 50 and 51 adjacent foundation endportions 23 and 24. The provision of short strands of hair 52 generallymedial of the foundation 21 minimizes the expense in materials andconstruction.

The hair assembly 20 may be attached to the head of a cadaver by firstapplying double faced tape slightly above or rearwardly of and along thenormal hairline of the cadaver and then positioning the hair assembly onthe cadavers head. Other well known methods of attachment may beemployed, for example, spirit gum or glue may be used and/or an elasticband may be attached to the hair assembly 29 adjacent end portions 23and 24 below the lower surface 43, such elastic band is then positionedbelow the base of the cadvers head.

While only a certain preferred embodiment of this invention has beenshown and described by way of illustration, many modifications willoccur to those skilled in the art and it is, therefore, desired that itbe understood that it is intended in the appended claims to cover allsuch modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of thisinvention.

What is claimed as new and what it is desired to secure by LettersPatent of the United States is:

1. A hair assembly for covering the exposed bald portion of the head tosimulate the natural hair of a sheared or shaven head of a cadavercomprising an elongated base having a forward hairline portion and arearward portion and end portions, said base being adapted to bepositioned adjacent the crown of the head with said forward hairlineportion located along the natural hairline of the cadaver, said rearwardportion terminating forwardly of the back of the head to which said baseis applied, said end portions being narrow and terminating adjacent theears on either side of the head to which said base is applied, at leastone row of hand stitched strands of hair extending downwardly from saidbase along said forward hairline portion, at least one row of handstitched strands of hair extending upwardly from said base along saidforward hairline portion, a plurality of rows of machine stitchedstrands of hair attached to said base and extending generallylongitudinally thereof, said strands of hair adjacent said end portionsof said base extending rearwardly of said rearward portion of said base,said strands of hair generally medial of said base between its said endportions terminating rearwardly of said rearward portion of said baseand forwardly of said strands of hair adjacent said end portion.

2. A hair assembly for covering the exposed bald portion of the head tosimulate the natural hair of a sheared or shaven head of a cadavercomprising an elongated base of a netting material having an elongatedforward edge and an elongated rearward edge and ends, said forward edgeincluding a forwardly curved central portion located between said ends,said forward edge further including a pair of rearwardly extendingindented portions respectively between said central portion and arespective said end, said central portion and said indented portionsforming the front hairline of said hair assembly, said elongatedrearward edge being generally arcuately shaped rearwardly between saidends, said base between said ends being spaced a predetermined distancewhereby said ends terminate adjacent the ears of the head of a cadaverto which the hair assembly is applied, said base between said centralportion of said forward edge and said rearward edge generally medial ofsaid ends being approximately onethird said predetermined distance, atleast one row of hand stitched strands of hair extending upwardly fromsaid base along said forward edge, at least one row of hand stitchedstrands of sair extending downwardly from said base along said forwardedge, a plurality of rows of machine stitched strands of hair extendingupwardly from said base, said rows of machine stitched strands beingpositioned generally longitudinally of said base.

3. A hair assembly for covering the exposed bald portion of the head tosimulate the natural hair of a head of a human body comprising anelongated planar base having a forward hairline portion and a rearwardportion and end portions, an elongated marginal binding attached to saidbase along said forward hairline portion, said binding having an upperportion above the upper surface of said base and a lower portion belowthe lower surface of said base, said base being adapted to be positionedadjacent the crown of the head with said forward hairline portionlocated along the natural hairline of the human body, said rearwardportion terminating forwardly of the back of the head to which said baseis applied, said end portions being narrow and terminating adjacent theears on either side of the head to which said base is applied; at leastone row of hand stitched strands of hair extending downwardly from saidlower portion of said binding along said forward hairline portion, atleast one row of hand stitched strands of hair extending upwardly fromsaid upper portion of said binding along said forward hairline portion,a plurality of rows of machine stitched strands of hair attached to saidbase and extending generally longitudinally thereof, said strands ofhair adjacent said end portions of said base extending rearwardly ofsaid rearward portion of said base, said strands of hair generallymedial of said base between its said end portions terminating rearwardlyof said rearward portion of said base and forwardly of said strands ofhair adjacent said end portion.

4. A hair assembly for covering the exposed bald portion of the head tosimulate the natural hair of a sheared or shaven head of a cadavercomprising an elongated planar base of a netting material having anelongated forward edge and an elongated rearward edge and ends, anelongated marginal binding attached to said base along said edgesthereof, said forward edge including a forwardly extending curvedcentral portion located between said ends, said forward edge furtherincluding a pair of rearwardly extending indented portions respectivelybetween said central portion and a respective said end, said centralportion and said indented portions forming the front hairline of saidhair assembly, said elongated rearward edge being generally arcuatelyshaped rearwardly between said ends, said base between said ends beingspaced a predetermined distance whereby said ends terminate adjacent theears of the head of a cadaver to which the hair assembly is applied,said base between said central portion of said forward edge and saidrearward edge generally medial of said ends being approximately onethirdsaid predetermined distance, at least one row of hand stitched strandsof hair extending upwardly from said binding along said forward edge, atleast one row of hand stitched strands of hair extending downwardly fromsaid binding along said forward edge, a plurality of rows of machinestitched strands of hair attached to said base and extending upwardlytherefrom, said rows of machine stitched strands being positionedgenerally longitudinally of said base and spaced each from the next tooutwardly conceal said base.

5. A hair assembly for covering the exposed bald portion of the head tosimulate the natural hair of a sheared or shaven head of a cadavercomprising an elongated planar base of a netting material having anelongated forward edge and an elongated rearward edge and ends, anelongated marginal binding attached to said base along said edgesthereof, said forward edge including a forwardly extending curvedcentral portion located between said ends, said forward edge furtherincluding a pair of rearwardly extending indented portions respectivelybetween said central portion and a respective said end, said centralportion and said indented portions forming the front hairline of saidhair assembly, said elongated rearward edge being generally arcuatelyshaped rearwardly between said ends, said base between said ends beingspaced approximately ten and one-half inches whereby said ends terminateadjacent the ears of the head of a cadaver to which the hair assembly isapplied, said base between said central portion of said forward edge andsaid rearward edge generally medial of said ends being approximatelythree inches, said base between the valleys of said indentations andsaid rearward edge being approximately two and one-half inches, at leasttwo rows of hand stitched strands of hair extending upwardly from saidbinding along said forward edge, at least two rows of hand stitchedstrands of hair extending downwardly from said binding along saidforward edge, at least seven rows of machine stitched strands of hairattached to said base and extending upwardly therefrom, said rows ofmachine stitched 8 strands being positioned generally longitudinally ofsaid base and spaced each from the next to outwardly conceal said basewith strands of hair.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 300,938 6/1884Beck 13253 1,634,190 6/1927 Hepner 132-53 1,853,976 4/1932 Jacoby et a113253 10 3,077,891 2/1963 Lane 132-5 FOREIGN PATENTS 219,332 12/1958Australia.

ROBERT E. MORGAN, Acting Primaly Examiner.

L. W. TRAPP, Assistant Examiner.

1. A HAIR ASSEMBLY FOR COVERING THE EXPOSED BALD PORTION OF THE HEAD TOSIMULATE THE NATURAL HAIR OF A SHEARED OR SHAVEN HEAD OF A CADAVERCOMPRISING AN ELONGATED BASE HAVING A FORWARD HAIRLINE PORTION AND AREARWARD PORTION AND END PORTIONS, SAID BASE BEING ADAPTED TO BEPOSITIONED ADJACENT THE CROWN OF THE HEAD WITH SAID FORWARD HAIRLINEPORTION LOCATED ALONG THE NATURAL HAIRLINE OF THE CADAVER, SAID REARWARDPORTION TERMINATING FORWARDLY OF THE BACK OF THE HEAD TO WHICH SAID BASEIS APPLIED, SAID END PORTIONS BEING NARROW AND TERMINATING ADJACENT THEEARS ON EITHER SIDE OF THE HEAD TO WHICH SAID BASE IS APPLIED, AT LEASTONE ROW OF HAND STITCHED STRANDS OF HAIR EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY FROM SAIDBASE ALONG SAID FORWARD HAIRLINE PORTION, AT LEAST ONE ROW OF HANDSTITCHED STRANDS OF HAIR EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM SAID BASE ALONG SAIDFORWARD HAIRLINE PORTION, A PLURALITY OF ROWS OF MACHINE STITCHEDSTRANDS OF HAIR ATTACHED TO SAID BASE AND EXTENDING GENERALLYLONGITUDINALLY THEREOF, SAID STRANDS OF HAIR ADJACENT SAID END PORTIONSOF SAID BASE EXTENDING REARWARDLY OF SAID REARWARD PORTION OF SAID BASE,SAID STRANDS OF HAIR GENERALLY MEDIAL OF SAID BASE BETWEEN ITS SAID ENDPORTIONS TERMINATING REARWARDLY OF SAID REARWARD PORTION OF SAID BASEAND FORWARDLY OF SAID STRANDS OF HAIR ADJACENT SAID END PORTION.